Avengers
CD
Today marks a big moment for Marvel’s Avengers. Well over a year after it was first announced, Spider-Man is making his way into the game, though as stated, only on PlayStation consoles. There’s something for everyone, however, as a new Wakandan raid is launching too, Discordant Sound, along with some fundamental reworks to gear and currency and cosmetics that will be live on all platforms.
What should you expect from today’s update? And what shouldn’t you expect? Let’s go through it.
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is being pitched as the game’s first “hero event.” What that means is that because this is just on one platform, it’s a smaller scale offering than what we’ve seen from the already short Kate Bishop and Hawkeye campaigns before it. There will be dialogue, cutscenes and lore text about Spider-Man joining the Avengers, but there are not custom-created missions that are in new zones with new bosses or anything like that. We will be reusing old maps, but just getting new Spidey-based objectives in them.
Expect this Hero Event to be short, and then you will just have level Spider-Man and his gear the old fashioned way in whatever activity you feel like doing on the War Table (for fast gains, I usually run Hives). And to be clear, Spider-Man is not the Spider-Man from Insomniac’s game, different multiverse version, different voice actor. Crystal Dynamics has tried to make his web-slinging and swinging as faithful as they can within the confines of Avengers’ format, though do not expect the moon and something on the same level of Insomniac’s game, where the entire project was based around Spidey alone.
Avengers
CD
Discordant Sound Raid
I am like, literally intimidated by this raid. I don’t even know if I’ll get to it today as I’ll be busy with Spider-Man, but this is not an Omega-level threat, this is a serious chunk of totally new content, the endgame activity that players wish Avengers’ had from the start.
This is a raid with minibosses, bosses and puzzles, and Crystal Dynamics has made it very clear you are going to need a team you can actually communicate with over voice chat to get this done, especially before everyone knows all the ins and outs of the encounters. I am concerned both about this, given the current size of the active player population, and the percentage of those that are actually “raid ready,” but also the fact that there is no join in progress system in Avengers still, so if anyone drops or leaves, your entire run is probably screwed.
That said, the actual content of the raid certainly looks good, and unlike anything the game has seen before. I think this is the kind of thing the game needs, I just worry about actually finding a group for this and running it regularly to get characters up to the new level cap.
Gear/Cosmetic Changes
All currencies are being streamlined so there are less to keep track of for upgrades. You can now infuse gear to raise its max level, so long as you have some resources and another piece of gear at a higher level. You can now buy cosmetic boxes with units that contain skins, emotes, finishers and namecards, but they’re not true loot boxes as you can see what’s inside them. They will change daily, or you can buy a bunch in a row per day if you want to just keep spending to see the next one.
That’s the major stuff. Looking forward to trying all this out, and to hearing about a 2022 roadmap which we were promised before the end of the year…
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